A major financial event, called Anguilla STEP Conference 2015, the island’s first ever such activity, was for some reason held in neighbouring Dutch St. Maarten at The Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa, but Anguilla is still to gain some resulting benefits.
Among the benefits is that Anguilla will get some well-needed publicity – from the conference – as a growing financial offshore centre in the Caribbean, with possible opportunities for inward investment from international company formations and registrations.
The two-and-a-half day conference in St. Maarten was preceded by a Beach Day at daVida’s Restaurant and Bayside Grill at scenic and historic Crocus Bay on Sunday, May 3. That event, alone, brought much publicity to Anguilla. Not only was the location one of Anguilla’s upmarket and well-laid out restaurants, but the immediate beach area included scenes of local arts and crafts, and traditional foods which tied in well with the restaurant’s own special menus. Then there were musical performances by the renowned and long-established Mayoumba Folkloric Theatre which welcomed the conference guests; and the ever popular Boss and his Horsepower Band.
Most outstanding, perhaps, were three of Anguilla’s sleek racing boats – Satellite, 4G Eagle and ROBB – which demonstrated one of the island’s usual exciting and competitive races. The race, sponsored by the Anguilla Tourist Board and Carlyle Rogers, was organised by the Anguilla Boat Racing Committee. The some 130 conference delegates, a portion of the well over 200 persons who came over from St. Maarten, spoke about being highly impressed with the beach party and the various arranged activities for their enjoyment.
The excitement and entertainment aside, they keenly listened to three short addresses. The first was by Mr. Carlyle Rogers, Chairman of Step Anguilla, who delivered mainly the initial welcome. They were further welcomed by the newly-appointed Chief Minister of Anguilla, the Hon. Victor Banks.
“I welcome all of you to Anguilla and to this very important conference,” Mr. Banks said. “I saw some of the items on the agenda that will be discussed, and they are some very significant issues that will affect our jurisdiction and the region as a whole. I know that going forward there are a lot of things that we have to navigate in the financial services sector. Anguilla, as a small operator, has had its challenges in doing business over the years. It had to face up to a lot of international initiatives, regulations and a whole range of other things that make it difficult for us to extract and develop financial services in the way that we should. I am sure that this conference will propose to do that kind of navigation as we exchange our experiences and knowledge about the industry with each other. There are practitioners, professionals and a whole range of people who will be involved in this process, and I am certain that out of that will come something fruitful that all of us can take away.”
Mr. Banks added that the event was in fact Anguilla’s conference, although held in St. Maarten. “That tells you about the kind of neighbourhood we live in,” he went on. “Anguilla and St. Maarten, to my mind, share one economy so we share a lot of things in common…and you come to the rest of the part of that neighbourhood; so I have nothing to be ashamed of because we don’t have the facilities and resources – I don’t know if that is the reason – but, whatever it is, I think and believe that you will have a very, very important conference in a great atmosphere to do great things for Anguilla and the region.”
Mr. Steve Garlick, CEO of Anguilla Finance, the main sponsor of the conference, commented: “Financial services continue to be an important part of the overall financial core of Anguilla’s economy. Obviously, the most important one for Anguilla is tourism. Financial services may be a little bit hidden, compared with tourism, but it is a vibrant and growing part of the economy.”
Speaking to The Anguillian following the addresses, Mr. Carlyle Rogers said in part: “The staging of the conference comes at an opportune time because it is time that Anguilla makes a move in this financial industry. It is both an acknowledgement of the fact that we have been in the industry for twenty years; and a time to assess where we are and where we need to go; and at a time when the industry is changing because of all the pressures brought by the international community including our own UK Government, which is of course ultimately responsible for the entre regulation of the industry.”
He went on: “The conference will discuss all of the matters facing the international financial services of the offshore industry. First is the move towards transparency – the fact that the UK Government is seeking to force upon the Overseas Territories Beneficial Ownership Registers. The conference will also look at the way in which financial jurisdictions can better advocate their positions in the international community; issues regarding due diligence; citizenship by investment programmes; and the fact that high network individuals are increasingly using those as a way to basically plan their affairs. Over the next two-and-a-half days has a [packed]… agenda covering a whole wide range of issues facing the industry.”
Mr. Rogers said the conference was being attended by approximately 220 delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors from all over the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, the UK, Panama, Brazil and other parts of Latin America.
The speakers from Anguilla included Ms Yvette Wallace of Keithley Lake & Associates; Mr. Lynwood Bell, a longstanding financial services practitioner; Mr. Carlyle Rogers, Chairman of STEP Anguilla; and Mr. Alex Richardson, Chairman of Anguilla Finance, the presenting sponsor of the STEP Conference.
